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Is Aberdare is a town fighting to stay alive.

Rhondda Cynon Taf Council have announced on the 19 September that there will be grants scheme available and the Cabinet agree to the introduction of a Town Centre Maintenance Grant scheme which will be piloted in Tonypandy and Mountain Ash.

Following on from the article residents went on Twitter to as the question about the state of some properties in Aberdare, and also the volume of empty shops in the town. One of the main concerns was how some landlord’s neglected property through lack of maintenance as most were in the Aberdare conservation area.

Having walked around the Town there are quite a number of empty properties now and the question is will it get better or will more shops close. The big problem for Aberdare is online sales the Cyfarthfa Retail Park just a few miles away in Merthyr, and now M&S store has opened there, contrasting with the Pontypridd store closing down in September 2015. Add to that Trago Mills will soon be opening in Merthyr with over 300 staff, will this have a knock-on effect for local traders in Aberdare, only time will tell.

Did the £7.7m project Rhondda Cynon Taf Council spent on the town in 2011 help get more footfalls into the town? Just looking round there is a lot of neglected properties, with utility companies not helping the look of the town when they don’t replace the paving’s after excavation, with Rhondda Cynon Taf Council having to be prompted by local residents to get paving replaced.

The question is has Merthyr got it right? If so what’s radically wrong at Rhondda Cynon Taf Council? The council seems content to allow development of housing in Cynon Valley and resident’s having to travel out of Cynon Valley to shop at retail outlets in Merthyr or Cardiff.

Thriving or surviving? How Aberdare Market traders see the future of their town

Comments

Posted by Luke2010, Aberdare on the 21st September 2017

Speaking to a number of shop workers in aberdare before these shops closed for business it is the rates and rent that is pushing business out of the town basically companies are being priced out of aberdare this is a sad site to see as when i was younger the town was a hive of activity but as more and more shops close in turn the less and less footfall the town will get the council need to make it inviting for larger companies to come to the town what was once the queen of the valleys is now rapidly becoming a ghost town